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Monthly Archives: September 2012

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Finally, a full week of comics! Here are this week’s new and noteworthy titles.

This week, the Halloween mini-comics come out from Diamond. While it’s probably safe to check out any of the offerings, these are the books I’m looking forward to snagging, each one a shining example of the format.

ARCHAIA COW BOY HALLOWS EVE MINI COMIC BUNDLE 2012

BOOM ADVENTURE TIME MINI COMIC BUNDLE 2012

DARK HORSE AXE COP MINI COMIC BUNDLE 2012

And for the regular batch of comics this week.

ADVENTURE TIME #8

AXE COP PRESIDENT O/T WORLD #3 – The President of the World mini has been a big dose of incoherent fun. Never has stream-of-consciousness storytelling gone so far with me.

FF #22

GOON #42

HAPPY #1 – I’d enthusiastically and unreservedly recommend a new miniseries by either Grant (The Invisibles, JLA, Batman) Morrison or Darick (Transmetropolitan, The Boys) Robertson, but I’m insanely excited that they’re working together on a new one. I have no idea what it’s about, nor have I had any inclination to find out ahead of time, I just want to open the cover and be blown away.

YOUNGBLOOD #74

Now for a bit of administrivia. I’m heading out for a (hopefully)well-deserved vacation and leaving you in Matt’s capable hands for a couple weeks. I expect to return rested, full of new plans and ideas,and ready to close out 2012 in full force.

Well, I’m as surprised as anyone that we’re back for round two, but here we are, immersed in a 6000 page catalog yet again! Let’s dig in!

Arsenic Lullaby Publishing

Arsenic Lullaby Pulp Edition – AL comes out so infrequently I haven’t had the chance to read it in YEARS, but I’m glad to see it’s still around and will definitely be picking this up. If it were any less funny it would be the most offensive comic ever produced, but it’s NOT less funny and it’s the best for messed up humor.

Art Books

Imagination Illustrated: The Jim Henson Journal – If you, perhaps, are a fan of the late muppet master, this adaptation of his diary sounds pretty cool (although I admit to having zero clue what they mean by adaptation). It certainly has the potential to be extremely cool, though.

Boom! Studios

Superbia (Ongoing) #1 – I haven’t checked out Grace Randolph’s Superbia mini, but I probably should have. We’re both huge fans of Randolph’s based on her Muppet-related work from Boom.

Boundless

Lady Death #23 – Wait, WHAT year is this?!?!? I’m all for irony, but this is ridiculous.

Dark Horse

Billy the Kid’s Old Timey Oddities and The Orm of Loch Ness – More crazy madness in the Mighty Powell Manner!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow — Wonderland – I’m not a Buffy follower, but it IS written by Jeff Parker, so it may be worth checking out on the strength of that alone.

Goon #44 – Giant monsters, cockfighting, and sexy ladies: I hope you CAN judge a book by its cover!

DC Comics

Before Watchmen – I’m glad to see that the fourth (and final) issues of these abominations in the eyes of the Moore means we can put them safely behind us and forget they ever happened.

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus Vol 4 TP – The final volume of DC’s top-notch chronological reprints of the Fourth World. This is comics at it’s best, and Jack Kirby’s most focused and personal work.

Joe Kubert Presents #2 – It’s sad, but Joe Kubert’s participation in the Before Watchmen travesty pretty much guaranteed I wouldn’t support his future work. Still, kudos to DC for releasing an anthology starring this comic book legend. I hope they do this with other creators in the future.

Legends of the Dark Knight #2 – Ben Templesmith doesn’t tend to do superhero work, so if you’re still reading DC’s output, this is probably going to be beautiful and spooky, if nothing else.

Showcase Presents: Weird War Tales Vol 1 TP – I’ve never been much of a war OR a horror comic fan, but just looking at the list of creators involved here, it’s a pretty tempting bargain.

Dynamite Entertainment

Evil Ernie #2 – As confused as I am that there would be a Lady Death comic in 2012, multiply that by a hundred for Evil Ernie. Did anybody really miss that cackling ghoul? REALLY?

Masks #1 – Chris Roberson writes and Alex Ross paints the team-up book featuring all of the pulp characters Dynamite has been relaunching. I just can’t believe I have to wait so long to get it in my hands. My only question is why the hell they’d cover up Zorro’s face with the logo like that?

EC Comics

If you’re so inclined, there’s another $300 of Golden Age crime and horror reprints to be had here.

Eerie Archives Volume 12 HC – If you recall, the last time I ran this feature I was pleased by the numerous options for snagging old-school horror reprints. I’m afraid this is a rabbit-hole I can’t bring myself to go down, but it’s fascinating and welcome.

Hermes Press

Alex Toth’s Zorro: The Complete Dell Comics Adventures HC – $50 for 240 pages is REALLY spendy, but if you love Toth (and you really should) it promises to be a lovely collection.

IDW

Berkeley Breathed’s Opus and Outland – IDW’s archival reprints have been rivaling the qwuality of Fantagraphics’. Here they wrap up their work on Breathed’s Bloom County by publishing his two follow-up strips.

Judge Dredd #1 – I haven’t had the opportunity to read much Dredd before, but IDW’s new series is probably a decent starting point, at least if they ensure their stories actually GO somewhere.

Judge Dredd: The Complete Brian Bolland – $50 is pretty steep for 248 pages, but it’s at least guaranteed to be gorgeous and a decent primer on the character. I’m thinking about snagging it.

Mad: Artist’s Edition – IDW’s Artist’s Editions are shot from the original art and printed at the original size, with all the corrections, blue lines, etc left in place so the reader can get the best possible impression of the artwork. This one will include SOME story from every issue between #1-18 — including Bat Boy and Rubin — and promises to be the best possible glimpse you can get of real comics history.

Image Comics

Bloodstrike #34 – Rob Liefeld takes the reigns for the first time in the Extreme relaunch, and we’re going to see the most Liefeldy characters of the bunch in this one, including the original Shaft (displaced from Youngblood) and blatant Lobo ripoff Bloodwulf. So yeah, I’m pretty psyched.

Cyber Force #2 – Coming off a successful Kickstarter campaign (which I admit I contributed to), this is going to be FREE if you visit a participating retailer. So do that.

Thought Bubble Anthology 2012 – New work by Warren Ellis and Tony Harris alone would probably make me pick up this book, but there are some other top-name creators involved here. I would HAPPILY support a full TPB with this caliber of creators attached, but this one is only 32 pages.

Marvel Comics

The Marvel NOW! soft relaunch (and where have we heard THAT little chestnut before?) is upon us, and now it’s time to ask myself if I want to continue aiding and abetting Marvel and DC’s game of soulless one-upsmanship or if I just want to check out now, like I did with the New 52. Truth be told, there’s very little here that I find exciting, more just strategic. Still, since I haven’t made that decision yet I’ll still keep an eye on them here.

All-New X-Men #1 – As long as the original 60’s stories still “happened,” I’m VERY nervous about this book. Despite their mission the original mutant teens were still pretty happy-go-lucky, and I’d hate to see that ret-conned into no longer being true or having that explicitly destroyed.

Captain America #1 – In which Cap becomes John Carter, Warlord of Mars. Who says the Silver Age is dead? All you have to add is Cap-Mite and you’ve got 50’s Batman.

Thor: God of Thunder #1 – Thor isn’t really one of the titles I pick up, but it IS Jason Aaron and that counts for a lot.

Uncanny Avengers #2 – The X-Avengers seems like a cynical ploy to me, like marrying the children of different royal families to build a stronger empire. And yet Rick Remender, John Cassaday, and the Red Skull are a VERY tempting combination. The Scott Summers lobotomy, though? Eww.

Tamashii Nations

DX Soul of Chogokin: Mazinger Z Action Figure – Should you have $440 of disposable income or, like Friend of the Blog Ben who had the FIRST Mazinger Z web page on the Internet (it was a LOOOOONG time ago!), this looks pretty damn sharp. And if in the future they should happen to make one featuring Optimus Prime or Voltron, well…I can;t say I wouldn’t snap it up myself.

Valiant Entertainment

Shadowman #1 – Valiant’s relaunch has been the highest-quality line-wide relaunch since…Well, since The Rob kicked Extreme off again. Every single title I’ve read has been top-notch, even the ones I never really cared for originally. With Shadowman they’re bringing back someone I really did like back in the day, so I’m happy to see Jack Boniface get the return he deserves.

Orders must be in to your LCS by September 18, 2012 (OOPS, sorry friends!) and are scheduled to arrive in November.

Pre-Conceived Notions: After a series of mundane releases Hulk Season One redeemed the Season One line due in no small part to the creative team of Fred Van Lente and Tom Fowler. Strange’s creative team could quite possibly equal if not exceed that book. Pak has a great catalog and Rios has never let me down so lets get to the magic (sorry)!SPOILERS!

We are thrown right in with Stephen Strange finding the Ancient One, who is said to be able to heal. They have some pithy back and forth and Strange decides to stay with him and train. We are treated to a few flashback pages — or rather, collages — on how Strange’s hands were mangled and how he found the Ancient One. We are also introduced to Wong, who thinks Strange is evil. The Ancient One decides Wong and Strange should team up, 80’s buddy cop style. Wong has great power and heart but no form or discipline, while Strange has amazing form and discipline but no heart. How will these two ever get along? What could possibly bring this odd couple together to learn about themselves? Enter the girl with the problem (80’s buddy cop style, remember).Our crew travels all over the world searching for three magic rings that controls a magic something-or-other when all are brought together, and it pretty much goes the way you would figure. Each ring brings another obstacle and battle, with our heroes learning what they need to get where they need to be. It’s not as bad as all that. It’s actually not bad at all. It is rushed, however. The actual origin of Strange is told in less than two pages. It doesn’t give you a great sense of what a giant dick he was before his accident or why a man of science would turn to the mystic arts to healhim. That’s one of the most pivotal (and forgotten) parts of Strange. He harnesses magic so supremely (sorry) because he respects it more than anyone; it gave him a life again.

Without expressing this, his journey in this book has almost no impact. He just becomes a dude who goes on an adventure because he really doesn’t have anything better to do. Like I said though, this book isn’t bad. Rios’ art is wonderful. Her ability to capture fluidity and psychedelic images really shines here. Her full page magic stuff reallyportrays grandiose things. It really looks like magic should, and makes you feel so small for being a mere mortal.

If you are a fan of Doctor Strange this book will do. If you aren’t, it won’t make you one. It’s not a great origin story, and it’s definitely not a Sorcerer Supreme story, but it is one of the better Season one stories and possibly the last, as Marvel hasn’t announced any up coming releases.

GHOST #0 – I spotted this in my first Previews and Portents column a couple months back, and the Kelly Sue Deconnick/Phil Noto tag-team is enough to make me give it a shot, even though I’m not really familiar with the character.

ROGER LANGRIDGES SNARKED #12 – Despite a fairly sleepy middle act, Snarked has been revelatory. It’s easy enough for kids yet complex enough for adults. And funny! With this final issue I’m somewhat afraid we’ll finally SEE the snark, since the running gag has been not knowing what he looks like. I’m happy enough to NEVER know what Langridge’s looks like, content to have the snark of my imagination. Sad as I am that it’s going away, I’m equally as excited to see what Mr. Langridge has for us next.

That’s it for this week. Expect reviews later in the week for Hawkeye, Rocketeer, and more. What looks good to you?